Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee (File).
Kolkata:
The Trinamool Congress released its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha election on Wednesday evening and vowed – as the Congress, the DMK, and other members of the INDIA opposition bloc have – to repeal changes to the citizenship law should it defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.
Bengal’s ruling party – seen as part of INDIA despite failed seat-sharing talks with the Congress-led group – also made other big-ticket promises, including 10 free LPG (cooking gas) cylinders every year to below-poverty-line families and five kg of free rations (rice, wheat, and grains) monthly.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party also vowed to back farmers in the MSP, or minimum support price, row, which led to a months-long confrontation – including a blockade around Delhi – between protesting agriculturists and the centre in 2020, and a second round of protests this year.
The Trinamool has said it will set this price in line with the MS Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations and “at least 50 per cent higher than the average cost of production”.
The prices of petrol and diesel will be “capped at affordable levels” and a price stabilisation fund would be set up to handle future fluctuations in what is a volatile international market.
The Trinamool has also promised 100 days of guaranteed work to all job card holders, and that all registered workers, nationwide, will now get Rs 400 per day.
It has also reached out to students, promising to triple the number of higher education scholarships for marginalised – Other Backward Classes, and Scheduled Castes and Tribes – communities.
For senior citizens (over 60 years), the existing pension scheme will be overhauled. They will now get Rs 1,000 per month. “Dignified housing” has been guaranteed for all poor families in the country.
This will provide “safe and secure homes” to all, Ms Banerjee said.
“These are the promises which we will fulfil as part of (the) INDIA bloc, when it forms the next government,” outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien said at the launch event in Kolkata.
The manifesto was released as Mamata Banerjee ripped into the BJP while campaigning for her party’s candidate in Assam’s Silchar. A fierce critic of the saffron party, Ms Banerjee offered a chilling warning to voters everywhere, saying, “This election is going to be scary…”
READ | “Think PM Will Give You Justice?” Mamata Banerjee in Assam
The Trinamool manifesto follows those of its allies – Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK and the Congress, as well as that of the CPI(M), which made headlines by vowing to dismantle India’s nuclear weapons.
READ | No Citizenship Amendment Act, Uniform Civil Code: DMK Manifesto
The CPI(M)’s promise triggered pushback from Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who said the Left party was playing with national security and claimed a “deep-rooted conspiracy” against the nation.
READ | CPI(M) Manifesto Promises To Dismantle India’s Nukes
The BJP released its manifesto last week.
READ | BJP Releases ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’ Manifesto, Congress Calls It Apology
The document underlined Mr Modi’s focus on the poor, young men and women, farmers, and women, all of whom are seen as key vote banks for the saffron party. He said the manifesto focused on the “dignity (and) quality of life” and the “quantity (and) quality of opportunities”.
The Congress released its manifesto on April 5 and, like the Trinamool, said it would roll back the changes to the Citizenship Amendment Act and ensure legal backing for farmers’ MSP demands.
READ | Congress’ 2024 Manifesto Focuses On Jobs, Vows Caste Census
Crucially, the party also said it would order a national caste survey, which is one of the biggest talking points in this election, and has been so since Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – whose Janata Dal (United) was an INDIA leader till he jumped to the BJP – ordered its survey last year.
The Congress manifesto invited acerbic responses from the Prime Minister and senior BJP leaders, who described it as a “Muslim League imprint”. Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge shot back and accused Mr Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah of “spreading falsehood”.
The 2024 Lok Sabha election will begin on Friday and run till June 1. Voting will take place over seven phases. The final result will be declared on June 4. In the 2019 election, Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool won 22 of the state’s 42 seats. The BJP got 18 and the Congress won the other two.
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